My Romantic Husband

Justin and I don’t typically make a big deal out of Valentine’s Day. As a woman, I pretend to be indifferent to it, but secretly I cross my fingers that he will do something special. We know we love each other, yet it’s nice to do something to keep the romance alive. And this year he actually did! He must have heard my not-so-subtle hints, because the night was perfect!

He told me a few days before that I don’t need to cook dinner because we’d be going out. This was a first because we always cook at home since everything is ridiculously expensive here in Zurich. I was already getting excited. Come the big day, I had some chocolates and a hand written card sitting on the kitchen table for him when he woke up. I thought I was doing pretty well up to this point. But, I had no idea how wonderful the evening would be.

So, I did my hair and nails, put on a nice dress and high heels, and made sure I looked my best. He came home around 6:30 and when he came in the door he had a bottle of wine behind his back. My favorite part was the red heart cut-out that was hanging around the bottle. We sat and enjoyed a few glasses and then headed to dinner for our 7:30 reservations. The restaurant, Stones, was only about 2 blocks away and somehow I had never seen it before. The night was freezing, so I was happy that the walk was short. I entered and the gentlemen at the door took my coat and escorted us to the table. The restaurant was small and cozy, but it was surprisingly classy. In fact, there was only one waiter in the whole place. I knew right away it was going to be delicious!

The menu was in German so I wasn’t sure what to order. Justin had actually thought to look up the menu online beforehand, translate it, and memorize the things he thought I would like. So sweet. He ordered the horse and risotto. Yes, I said horse! And I ordered the ostrich and rosemary potatoes. We found out why the restaurant was called Stones when the waiter brought out these 2 wooden platters. Each platter had our meat, the side dishes, an array of sauces, and a heated stone. At first we weren’t sure what to think of the heated stone and once we cut into our meat and realized that it was raw, we realized what we were supposed to do. We had to cook each piece of meat individually on the stone. Every bite was exquisite and different. You could cook it rare, medium, well-done, cook it with sauce, add tomato, dip it in a sauce, add some garlic cloves, add some rosemary, or just keep it plain. It was fun and delicious. I didn’t ask how much it cost; I just know Justin made the perfect choice.

As we were wrapping up the romantic evening snow began to fall outside. Best Valentine’s Day ever!